The Houseboat Top 10!

We have just returned from a fantastic week on a houseboat with all of Tom’s siblings and their families. With seven kids in his family, 6 of whom are married with children, we are a large group. 31 to be exact, outnumbered by the children, 16 to 15. We all met up on Saturday June 27th in Redding California, northern California, where we ate at In n Out (yumm!), then loaded up on food at Costco (more than we could possibly fit in the back of an Expedition even with the seats folded down!) and we headed out to nearby Lake Shasta and the adventure began! This is the boat required to house all of us- sleeping arrangements were creative with lots of people sleeping outside, in the dining room and even a baby in the bathroom. But it was a beautiful boat and the accommodations were as good as you could dream of while floating on a beautiful lake!


Top Ten Things About the Houseboat:

10. Together meal prep and clean-up (okay,maybe not really fun but it was great because we had a large chart with assignments and everyone worked together so we had great food everyday! It takes a lot to feed our crew!)
9. Game playing galore! Every night we tried something new while the kids wandered around, played Bionacles and eventually passed out and fell asleep!
8. Movies on the rocks! Papa set up a big projector and the kids enjoyed watching movies up on the nearby hill side! This is one of Hayden’s favorite traditions!
7. Hiking and running- we loaded the boat and dumped a group off on shore and we enjoyed some of the beautiful forests surrounding the lake.
6. Swimming and more swimming- Danica loved swimming out in the lake and in the hot tub on top of the boat.


5. Talent Show- a new tradition, we did this one without much advance prep but it was fun to see what everyone came up with, mostly skits. Alyssa stole the show with her awesome dancing to the theme song from Dora, she can seriously wiggle her hips!
4. Tubing and Kneeboarding- Hayden was a champion with his desire for while tube rides that made the older kids cry and he tried out the knee board and did a great job!
3. The Jetski- we had a blast learning to maneuver this old machine, it was so fun! Not so fun were the bruises we all got from the wild rides!
2. Waterskiing and Wakeboarding- Nearly everyone in the family at least tried wakeboarding and some are getting really good. I put in my time but in the end returned to my first love of slalom skiing, it’s like snowboarders verses skiers, I tried to join camp with the wakeboarder but I think I’m on the ski team to stay! Tom is a phenomenal wakeboarder- very hot!
1. Family, Family, Family! This is the first time Danica and Alyssa have really understood what cousins are and they love them! We had a great time and formed bonds and made memories that will last forever. The crazy stories and inside jokes that will keep coming from this trip will last us a long time, at the least they will last until the next time we all get together!